Health & Fitness

Health & Fitness organizations in Washington County address the physical, mental, behavioral, and emotional needs of residents. Programs and services for community members of all ages encourage healthy lifestyles and provide specialized and preventative health care.

Impact

• Washington County has three hospitals: UPMC Washington, AHN Canonsburg Hospital, and Penn Highlands Mon Valley Hospital. These hospitals provide the county with services such as orthopedics, women’s health, cancer care, cardiovascular diagnostics and surgery, rehabilitation, and many more.
• Other organizations providing behavioral, medical, and dental care in Washington County include the VA Primary Care Center, Centerville Clinics and Cornerstone Care.
• Specialized services are provided by an assortment of skilled nursing facilities, outpatient walk-in care clinics, physicians and surgeons, dentists and ambulance services throughout the county.
• Many fitness and youth centers are providing youth fitness programs, including the Mon Valley YMCA, Wilfred R. Cameron Wellness Center, Always B Smiling, LeMoyne Community Center, PONY Baseball, Special Olympics PA, the Brownson House, the Armory Youth Center, and World Series Tournaments. These programs help to ensure children are receiving the exercise needed outside of school sports and gym classes.

Strengths

• Collaboration
• Youth Fitness Programs
• Community Gardens

Challenges

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the mental and physical health of community members continues to decline. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, one in five adults experience mental illness, and one in twenty adults experience serious mental illness. For children 6 to 17 years of age, 17% experience a mental health disorder. Members of our annual focus group discussed worries that a stigma still remains for receiving treatment, and the process can be complex and demotivating for those already struggling. Of our survey respondents, 30% reported having or knowing someone who has had difficulty accessing mental health services in the county within the last 18 months.

Compared to before the pandemic, there are now an estimated 33 million more US adults who are obese, and diabetes is at a record high of 14%, according to the US News & World Report. Focus group members and survey respondents have highlighted a need for healthy choice education for individuals of all ages. They also expressed the desire to have more walking and biking trails throughout the county to improve the overall health of our community.

Both focus group members and survey respondents expressed a need for group activities for children outside of school. Community playgrounds are currently unsupervised and focus group members have noticed school sports becoming more elite as students age. Local fitness centers have been addressing this need by increasing youth programming, but there is limited space and transportation. This area is ripe for potential growth as 89% of our survey respondents stated they would be interested in enrolling a child in one of these programs.